Arrangement for switching clocks



958 F. J. SIMONSSON EIAL 2,861,138

ARRANGEMENT FOR SWITCHING CLOCKS Filed July 15. 1954 INVENTO FRITZ JOSEF slmo'is sou LFU i CURRY OSCAR EUGEN NYSTRO 4W I AG NT d SW68 Patent 2,861,138 ARRANGEMENT FOR SWITCHING CLOCKS Fritz Josef Simonsson, Traneberg, and Curry Oscar Eugen Nystriim, Lidingo, Sweden, assignors, by mesne assignments, to North American Philips Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application July 13, 1954, Serial No. 443,004

Claims priority, application Sweden July 13, 1953 4 Claims. (Cl. 200-38) This invention relates to clock switches provided with means for actuating electrical contacts or other control means at desired instants.

For such clock switches it is known to use a plate rotating with the clock movement and provided with means which may be attached to the plate at different points along the periphery of at least one circle, concentric with the centre of rotation of the plate and secured in these positions in order to actuate switching means, for example an electrical contact, at any desired instant.

Constructions of this type are known and need not further be described. A known construction, coming nearest to the invention as far as its design and effect is concerned, comprises a plate rotating together with a clock movement, which is provided with threaded holes spaced from each other, which are selected with respect to desired time intervals between possible switching positions and provided along the periphery of one or more circles concentric with the centre of rotation of the plate. In these holes threaded switching pins are inserted, the length of which is so chosen that the control means in question are actuated by them at points corresponding to the instant of a desired movement.

In a construction according to the invention, switching pins for the actuation of the control means and inserted in apertures in a disk are used as well, the device however being such that adjustment of the clock switch by insertion of the pins is considerably simplified. Furthermore the space occupied by the switching pins is much smaller than that used in practice for threaded pins. For the same diameter of the switching disk driven by the movement, the distance between the possible switch points may be made considerably smaller. This implies that also the time intervals between the switching possibilities. are correspondingly smaller. Further, a device according to the invention has the advantage of being reliable even after prolonged use.

A switch disk for clock switches which disk is arranged to be driven by the clock movement and provided with apertures corresponding to different instants and arranged along the periphery of one or more circles, is concentric with the axis of rotation of the disk, said disk further being provided with switching pins inserted at will in said apertures in order to co-act with control means at corresponding instants and, in accordance with the invention, comprising at least two layers, at least one of which consists of non-yielding material and is provided with apertures arranged in the afore-said manner, and the second layer attached tov the first-mentioned layer consisting of a material which yields to such an extent that a switching pin inserted with some play in an aperture of said first-mentioned layer of non-yielding material easily passes through this second layer. The switching pins are preferably pointed. The second layer of yielding material should be elastic so that the pin is held in position in the aperture by friction between the pin and said second layer.

2,861,138 Patented Nov.. ..l8 -19 58 In one embodiment of the invention, comprising one single plate of non-yielding material and provided with apertures, the thickness of this disk is so chosen as to guide the .pins in a transverse direction so that the pins fulfil their switching function without being pushed aside.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the switch ing disk comprises two plates of non-yielding material, which are firmly secured together and provided with apertures passing through both of the plates, said second layer of yielding material being sandwiched between the two plates of non-yielding material.

The plate(s) of non-yielding material is (are) preferably made from sheet metal or comparatively hard synthetic material, for example hardenable resin,'while the disk of yielding material may be made from porous material, for instance felt or a tight, softmaterial such as rubber or other soft elastic plastic material, which even after repeated insertion of a switch pin retains the property of exerting friction of the pin.

The'switch pins may be shaped as needles provided with a suitable grip. They may be comparatively thin when co-acting with an electric switch as control means actuated by the clock switch, for example 0.6 to 0.8 mm., so that the small space required for the apertures in the switch disk permits a very advantageous ratio between the radius of the disk and the distance between the apertures at the periphery, which ratio is necessary for a given, desired shortest switch time interval.

In order that the invention may be readily carried into effect it will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which Figures 1 and 2 show two different forms of a switch disk. according to the invention and Figure 3 shows schematically the co-action between such a disk and control means, for example, an electric switch having two different positions.

In Figure 1, the reference numeral 1 denotes a comparatively thick circular plate of non-yielding material, for example metal or hardened synthetic resin, provided with two rows of apertures 3 parallel to the axis of rotation 2 of the disk. The spacing of the apertures in a peripheral direction corresponds to the smallest desired interval between possible instants for switching operations.

With the time scale chosen in the drawing, in which one rotation of the disk corresponds to 24 hours, the distance between the apertures corresponds to 15 minutes. The diameter of the holes in the disk and the diameter of pins 5, which are provided with finger grips 4, are so related to each other that the pins can be freely inserted in the holes. that the pins, due to the thickness of the disk, are not noticeably forced aside when actuating the control means. To the plate 1 consisting of non-yielding material and provided with a scale-division a plate 6 of elastic material is secured, for instance by glueing. Said plate 6 may consist of a material referred to before.

Figure 2 exemplifies an advantageous solution according to the invention, in that in order to obtain the same properties with the same dimensions of apertures and pins, the total thickness of the switching disk need not exceed that of the hard plate alone shown in Figure 1. In this switching disk two relatively thin plates 11 and 12 of hard material, suitably sheet metal, are provided with apertures 3 at corresponding locations, so that a pin may be inserted through both plates. Between these two plates 11 and 12 .a disk 13 of elastic material is sandwiched. It may be glued to one or both of the plates 11 and- 12 or only held in position between them. The arrangement shown in Figure 2 has another advantage over the arrangement shown in Figure 1 in that the elastic The clearance is however so small disk 13, if made of felt or other porous material, is well protected between the plates 11 and 12 of hard material.

In the embodiments shown in the drawing, the switching disks are provided with apertures 7 for the shaft and holes 8 for fastening screws, the disk shown in Figure 2 being provided with a central ring 9 between the plates 11 and 12, of a thickness corresponding to that of the disk 13 when secured in position. The switching disk is assembled to form a unit, for example by means of rivets 10.

Figure 3 shows a switching disk of the type shown in Figure 2 in combination with a clock movement 14, shown schematically. The pins co-act with a switch 15 provided with control arms 16 and 17, one arm co-acting with pins in one of the rows of apertures and the other with pins in the other row of apertures for closing and opening respectively contacts of the switch.

It will be appreciated that many variations of details of a switching disk of the type shown in the drawing are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A control means for a clock comprising, a switch, rotatable switch plate constituted of at least one outer layer of non-yielding material and one inner layer of yieldable material joined thereto, a plurality of apertures arranged in both the non-yielding and yieldable material of said switch plate and concentric with the axis of rotation of the latter, and a plurality of pins of between 0.6 mm. and 0.8 mm. in diameter inserted without play in said apertures and alternately co-acting with said switch, each of said pins being maintained in position by the friction between the surface of the pin and the yieldable material.

2. An actuating device for control means of a clock switch as set forth in claim 1 wherein two layers of nonyielding material are spaced apart by an intermediate layer of yieldable material, said apertures passing through all of the layers.

3. An actuating device for control means of a clock switch as set forth in claim 1 wherein said layer of yieldable material is felt.

4. An actuating device for control means of clock switch as set forth in claim 1 wherein said layer of yieldable material is a soft elastic plastic material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 513,829 Schureman Jan. 30, 1894 1,355,829 Ford Oct. 19, 1920 1,801,129 Warren Apr. 14, 1931 1,884,322 Snow Oct. 25, 1932 1,982,982 Crozier Dec. 4, 1934 2,042,875 Anderson a June 2, 1936 2,081,295 Galinot May 25, 1937 2,260,980 Newell Oct. 28, 1941 2,309,065 Hall Jan. 19, 1943 2,601,154 Krueyer et a1. June 17, 1952 

